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Jack Nowell out of England's Six Nations decider after playing in Premiership final with ruptured toe ligaments

Nowell was unable to train for the last two weeks but appeared in both European and domestic finals - GETTY IMAGES
Nowell was unable to train for the last two weeks but appeared in both European and domestic finals - GETTY IMAGES

Jack Nowell is set to miss England’s autumn schedule after revealing that he played through the “horrendous” pain of ruptured toe ligaments to help Exeter Chiefs complete a domestic and European double.

The 27-year-old wing suffered the injury during the Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse last month, and admitted that it will almost certainly rule him out for a number of weeks.

“I have actually been playing on a bit of a foot injury which is going to need surgery,” he said following Exeter’s 19-13 win over Wasps at a sodden Twickenham.

“I’ve ruptured all the ligaments around my toe, which is not ideal. I’ve been strapped up for the last two weeks and have had to dig deep a little bit.

“Our physios and doctors have got me  in a position where I can be on the field and unfortunately I am going to have to get it fixed next week.

“If I’m perfectly honest, I haven’t trained in two weeks. I’ve loved that, but the coaches have hated it. They’ve trusted me to go out there and perform at the weekend.”

Nowell, who threw a slick pass to Henry Slade to set up Chiefs’ sole try, conceded that Exeter had to hang tough due to Wasps’ dogged performance.

He backed up a fine individual performance against Racing 92 with another strong game, but will have to wait to add to his 34 caps as Eddie Jones’ side bid to seal the Six Nations in Italy next weekend.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s been horrendous,” added Nowell, who missed the Premiership semi-final against Bath at the start of October.

“It’s my big toe, so any drive off that has been very, very sore. I’ve been fighting a battle since the Toulouse game – I did it in the last 10 minutes of that.

“It’s been swelling up and I’ve been trying to get it moving. After the [European] final I spent all of last week getting the swelling down.

“The way I’ve seen it, and what I have said to Rob [Baxter], the physios and the doctors, it is that I would have never forgiven myself if I didn’t give these two games a go and I felt like I was still in a position to give 100 per cent.”